MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Alabama State came up short in the 2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Softball Tournament, dropping a pair of games Saturday in the championship series to Prairie View A&M.
Prairie View A&M (20-21) forced a winner-take-all contest with a 5-3 victory in game one, before winning the second contest 4-3 to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament later next week.
The Lady Hornets battled from behind in game one after Prairie View A&M jumped to a 3-0 lead after the first inning in which they used a two-run double from Laurisa Hernandez, the SWAC Tournament MVP, and an RBI single by Kylar Ward-Flowers for the lead. Alabama State (23-31) was able to answer with a single run from pinch runner
Kaitlyn Kilner on a sacrifice fly from
Aimee Felices to cut the lead to 3-1.
Prairie View A&M pushed the lead to 4-1 in the third on a RBI double from Hernandez, before the lead grew to 5-1 on a Keona Hunter RBI single in the fourth. Alabama State trimmed the lead to 5-2 on a
Casey Durham home run – her first of the tournament – in the sixth, before the stage was set in the seventh for the Lady Hornets comeback attempt.
Makala Burt drew a leadoff walk before Felices singled to right center to push pinch runner
Marina Clark to third with no one out in the inning.
Vanessa Bradford was inserted as a pinch hitter and singled home Clark and sent Felices to second with one out in the inning. The Lady Hornets sent
Kimberlee Owens to the plate as a pinch runner with two outs in the inning and she delivered a single to left, however, Felices was waved around third and was thrown out at the plate to force the winner-take-all contest.
Alabama State was held to just six hits in the opener, with six different players getting a hit. The Lady Hornets used three pitchers in the contest, with
Justine Jean (12-10) suffering the loss as she worked one inning and allowed three runs off of just two hits.
The Lady Hornets answered back in game two with three runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Charlene Castro crushed her second home run of the tournament, this one to left to put the Lady Hornets up 1-0.
Amira James hit her fourth home run of the season, and her first of the tournament, in the same inning as she scored Kilner for the three-run lead.
Jean (12-11) held Prairie View A&M scoreless until the fifth when they were able to put three on the board behind an RBI single from Alyssa Garcia, and an RBI single from Hernandez to tie the game at 3-all. The Lady Panthers took the lead on an RBI single fro Destinee Williams for the final margin. Alabama State had a chance in the top of the seventh after Castro was intentionally walked with two outs in the inning, but the game ended on a foul pop to third to send the Lady Panthers to the NCAA Tournament.
James finished game two 2-for-3 for the Lady Hornets, who were held to seven hits. Meanwhile, Jean pitched a complete game, allowing just two earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.
Jean, Castro and Durham were each named All-Tournament for an Alabama State team that finished runner-up for the second consecutive season. The Lady Hornets return an entire roster for the 2019 season, with no seniors on this year's team.
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